ewink
6th December 2003, 11:00 PM
Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay on getting this chapter out. If you need
a refresher on what's going on, as I am sure you do, check out
http://funkdafieddouglasavenue.com/fic/moontrek/ng.html. All C & C welcome
at funkdafied[AT]douglasavenue.com. Happy holidays!
ewink
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CHAPTER FIVE - INVASION
Trevor pushed the bushes that were in his and Fosters way to the
ground and stepped over them. He then attempted to hold them down so
that Foster could also get over them, but they slipped out of his grip
and shot backwards, knocking Foster flat on his ass.
"Are you okay?" Trevor asked a laughing Foster.
"Yeah." Foster replied as he stood and dusted himself off. "I
think I hurt my bottom parts, but other than that, I'm gravy."
Trevor laughed. Foster eyed him confusedly.
"What's funny?" He asked.
Trevor chuckled some more.
"Nobody says 'bottom' anymore. Except for maybe three year olds."
Foster shrugged. "I'm seven hundred and three."
Trevor laughed once again. "Kid, you're alright!"
Foster smiled at the complement and the pair continued their trek
through the woods to the stranded Runabout.
After about fifteen minutes of hiking the pair could hear some
voices screaming at them.
"What did they say?" Foster asked Trevor who was increasing his
walking speed.
"They said 'stop or I'll shoot'."
Foster halted in his position. "Shouldn't we stop then?"
Trevor never turned back to his partner. "No! We'll be arrested
again!"
"Ah - good point." Foster acknowledged as he scurried off to catch
up with Trevor.
The pair continued walking at an accelerated pace. They had just
come over a small rise when a tree branch above them is shattered into
twigs.
"HOLY SHIT!" Trevor screamed. "I thought stop or we'll shoot was
just an expression!"
The pair began to run as they are blanketed with projectile fire -
the rounds missing them by mere inches.
"The Runabout is just beyond these trees!" Trevor pointed.
Foster screamed and dropped to the ground. Trevor stopped and
turned to his friend. "What happened?"
"I think I have been shot." Foster dryly replied as he staggered
to his feet.
"Are you going to be okay?"
Foster laughed. "Projectile weapons don't hurt energy beings."
A shot lands about two inches from Trevor. "Well they sure as
sugar hurt me, so we need to start running!"
Foster nodded and the pair began to run again. Within moments they
were at the Runabout with a Zima security officer right on their tails.
"STOP!" He ordered.
Trevor opened the hatch and the pair jump into the ship. Trevor
jumps into his seat and begins to power up the craft. The Zima guard
opened fire and bullets began to zing off the hull of the craft.
"Won't those hurt the hull?" Foster asked.
"The ship is impacted by thousands of micro asteroids per minute
while in space." Ami-computer explained. "Those bullets will do very
minor damage if any."
Trevor grabbed a phaser rifle and headed back to the door. Foster
grabbed him.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"We can't let them see us take off. I need to do what needs to be
done to protect the prime directive."
Foster nods as Trevor hops outside and stuns the only visible
guard. He quickly hops back in and takes his seat at the controls.
The hatch closes and seals as the Runabout begins to lift into the
air. Once a few meters in the air, Trevor swings the nose of the ship
180 degrees to face a clearing. The runabout slowly starts to move
towards the clearing.
After passing over some small hills, the pair see what seems like
an entire battalion of guards, most armed with small arms, but a few
armed with shoulder mounted missile launchers.
"Now, those will do a bit more damage than the bullets." Ami-
Computer states.
"Thank you very much, Captain obvious." Trevor groans. "Shields?"
"Two percent." She replies.
"Ugh." Trevor replies.
"I can stop them." Foster pipes up.
Trevor, without even thinking about it, pushes the ship to its
maximum incline and thruster speed. "Do it."
Foster nods and disappears. As the ship climbs Trevor sees all he
guards drop to the ground, appearing to be in pain.
Trevor stares at this for a moment till Foster reappears.
"What did you do?" Trevor asked.
"As you said, I did what needed to be done."
"What does that mean?"
Foster could sense some anger in Trevor's voice. "I killed them."
Trevor could only stare at Foster as the runabout climbed towards
the cloud line; his staring only interrupted by the chirping of panels
and Ami-Computer's voice piping in.
"Trevor, three plasma powered fighter air craft with highly
explosive missiles are on an intercept course. They will be within
weapons range in three minutes."
Trevor just groaned and turned back to his piloting. "We need to
have a serious talk when we get out of this."
Foster sighed and took his seat in the back of the cabin.
* * * *
The Sisko dropped out of warp at the very edge of sector Zulu 771.
The smoothness of the stop implied that Ensign Ryouga Hibiki was off the
clock.
Indeed he was.
Ryouga was hanging around in ten-forward. He noted the stars
slowing from the streaking warp effect to simply standing seemingly
still.
"Hey." Mina's voice called to him.
Ryouga turned and saw her standing behind him.
"Hi." He stated. Ryouga turned back to his drink and resumed
looking out the window.
"Do you mind if I sit down?" Mina asked.
Ryouga laughed. "What's the difference? As you are so inclined to
mention as much as you can you are my commanding officer."
Mina sighed as she sat down. A waiter walked up to the table. Mina
just shooed him away.
"Ryouga," Mina started. "I just got back from sickbay."
Ryouga shifted his eyes from the star field to Mina.
"And?" He asked.
"Negative." Mina replied.
The sigh of relief from Ryouga could be heard back at Starfleet
command in San Francisco.
Ryouga smiled. "Permission to speak freely?"
Mina nodded.
"I was going to do what you asked. I had never gotten drunk
before, well not THAT drunk, and I know that you were very drunk too. I
should have been able to control myself better." Ryouga stated.
Mina took a moment to take all that in before starting with her
own speech.
"No, it's not your fault. I was also a willing participant in it.
And I need to apologize for the way I reacted the next morning." Mina
cleared her throat. "I hope that everything is okay."
Ryouga laughed. "It was a little swollen, but no worse for the
wear."
"Still works?" Mina asked.
Ryouga blushed. "I think so."
Mina grinned. Ryouga was oblivious.
Then he got it.
"WHAT?" He screamed.
Everyone in ten-forward turned and looked at the pair. Mina
smacked Ryouga on the top of the head.
"Come on." Mina ordered.
Ryouga blushed, grinned, and followed Mina out of the lounge.
Behind the bar Gosnell grinned. He hit is communicator.
"Gosnell to Gosnell."
Feedback spewed out of his communicator. He hit it again after
several of the bars patrons gave him the evil eye.
"Stupid thing. Not me Gosnell! The other one!" He hit his comm.
badge once again. "Gosnell to Commander Gosnell."
"WHAT!" Lita yelled. "Some of us are trying to sleep here!"
"Sorry sweetie, just thought that you would want to know that
Mina's getting some."
"WHAT?!?!?!" She exclaimed. The signal went dead and within just a
few seconds Lita materialized in front of the bar. Gosnell's jaw dropped
when he saw his half naked wife appear. He quickly grabbed a spare
Starfleet uniform jacket from behind the bar and made her put it on.
"What's this about Mina getting some?" Lita demanded the
information.
"She left with Ryouga." Gosnell grinned.
Lita shook her head. "That doesn't mean anything."
Gosnell grinned. "He had the look."
"What look?"
Gosnell sighed. "Are we having sex tonight?"
"Probably." Lita replied quietly.
Gosnell got a big dopey grin on his face. Lita's eyes opened wide.
Gosnell started to laugh.
"That look." He giggled.
Lita grinned. She then took a seat at the bar. "Give me a Mountain
Dew." She said.
Gosnell shook his head negatively. "Not till you go put some pants
on."
Lita suddenly realized that under the Starfleet jacket she was
only wearing her underwear. Lita hit her comm. badge. "Execute site to
site transport pattern Lita 7 G."
The computer chirped an acknowledgement and she vanished into
nothingness.
* * * *
"The Sisko has entered the sector." George stated to his siblings.
Tatewaki Kuno grinned. He walked over to the control panel. "Time
to smite!" he grinned.
"Brother dear." Kodachi grumbled. "You aren't thinking of hurting
my darling Ranma."
"Oh for fucks sake." George grumbled as he entered in the
intercept coordinates into the computer. Tatewaki drew his bokken and
took up a fighting stance across the way from his sister.
"My goal is to rescue the fair Akane Tendo and my beloved pig-
tailed girl. If Saotome is to be destroyed it will be just a nice
coincidence." Kuno stated.
Kodachi glowered. "That wretched Akane Tendo will NOT be brought
aboard this ship as long as I am here."
"I can fix that!" Kuno bellowed.
"ON GUARD, BROTHER DEAR!" Kodachi retorted.
"Shaddup both of you!" George yelled, besting them both with two
phaser blasts. The two siblings fell to the ground, stunned but
unharmed.
Tatewaki staggers to his feet and draws his bokken on George. "How
dare you fire upon the blue-" Kuno is cut off as George raises the
phaser to bear on him.
"You want some more?" George asks.
Tatewaki re-holsters his bokken. "The mission at hand is of utmost
importance. I yield for now, but we will finish this later."
Kodachi also staggers to her feet. "I DO NOT YIELD!" She screams
as she charges the two Kuno boys with her rhythmic gymnastic ribbon
twirling. George fires one shot, knocking her back on her ass.
Tatewaki grins slightly. Kodachi returns to her feet.
"Yes, the mission at hand is what we need to concentrate on. We'll
settle this later." Kodachi cackles and flutters out of the room, rose
pedals flying in every which direction.
George merely shakes his head.
"Are these drones of yours going to work?" He asks Tatewaki.
"Do you doubt the workmanship of the house of Kuno?"
George eyes his brother for a moment, then speaks.
"No. Just curious."
Kuno nods. "Yes, they have been programmed to capture Akane Tendo
and the pig tailed girl. They have also been programmed to kill Ranma
Saotome."
George nods. "Good. Five minutes to intercept."
Kuno looks at the panel. "What about that ship?"
George shrugs. "The neuron-radiation jammer will keep the Sisko
from contacting them. After we are done with Ranma we can blow them up
later."
Kuno cackles. George just groans.
* * * *
Shampoo was playing a computer game on Ranma's command panel when
Ranma walked onto the bridge. Shampoo quickly turned it off and moved to
her own seat. Ranma just chuckled.
"You don't have to stop on my account." He said.
Shampoo just shrugged. "Shampoo losing anyway."
Ranma nodded and took his seat. He looked at the view screen. The
stars seemed to just be sitting there.
Ranma stared a bit closer.
Those stars are doing something odd. He thought.
The stars in the center of the view screen seemed to move position
ever so slightly, and then back to where they were. Ranma had seen that
before.
"Holy shit." He said.
Before he could say anything else the Kuno cube de-cloaked and
stopped right in front of the Sisko.
Shampoo hopped out of her seat. Ranma stood as well.
"SHIELDS!" They cried in unison.
The humming of the shields kicked in.
"RED ALERT!" Ranma yelled. "ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
In Mina's quarters:
Mina was straddling Ryouga. They were both under the covers. Mina
was passionately kissing Ryouga. He was more than grateful to return the
kisses, albeit very sloppily. Ryouga didn't do this type of thing too
often. He wasn't very good at it.
Mina moved her attention down from Ryouga's face to his neck.
Ryouga stroked Mina's back, his hands moving up and down from the top of
her back to the bottom of her buttocks, as she nibbled on his neck.
Mina started to move lower. She ran her tongue on Ryouga's
muscular chest. She gave Ryouga's man nipples some attention as well.
Ryouga moaned in pleasure. Mina continued down. Her tongue making
a trail that led down Ryouga's midsection, past his waist, lower and
down to his-
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!" Ranma's voice
bellowed over the P.A., followed by the red alert klaxons.
Mina sat up.
"SON OF A BITCH!" They both screamed in unison.
In Serena's quarters:
Serena was up earlier than usual. She wasn't dressed yet though.
She was still wearing her cute little cotton bra and panty set that she
slept in. They were cute because they had little bunnies on them.
Serena sighed. She didn't want to go and sit in ten-forward until
breakfast time. Gosnell was very strict. He wouldn't serve Lucky Charms
till 0630. She didn't understand why not. She guessed it was just to
make sure that no one else but she got any.
Serena walked over to her recliner and sat down. She looked at a
book that was sitting on the coffee table next to the chair.
"Do I have time?" She pondered.
She nodded to herself that she did. She leaned back in her chair
and got a bit more comfortable. She pushed a button that causes the foot
rest to come out. She knew this would be easier with her feet up.
She closed her eyes and allowed her hand to wander up and down the
side of her leg.
Her hand stopped near her hips. She sighed in pleasure. She pulls
out a remote control from between the arm of the chair and the cushion.
She pointed it at a video screen on the wall and hit a button.
Cat Girl Nuku Nuku appeared on the viewer. She grinned.
"Now that's the stuff!" She exclaimed.
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
"DAMMIT!" She whimpered as she hopped out of her chair.
In ten-forward:
Lita walks back into the lounge. She sees the bar very busy and
her husband taking breakfast orders. She looks around for Raye or Serena
but sees neither of them.
Gosnell looks up and acknowledges her presence. Lita smiles and
walks up to the bar. She takes a seat near the middle. Gosnell walks up
to her.
"I'll get you your Dew in just a minute, babe." He states as he
runs over to take some more orders.
Lita smiles. She's been looking forward to this since she got up
this morning. Well, this and the eventual drilling she was going to give
Mina about the drilling Ryouga gave her.
Yeah, this is going to be a great day! She thought.
Gosnell walked back up to her with a big glass of the green bubbly
liquid that she has grown to love - no - need.
"Thanks babe!" She says, giving him a quick peck. Gosnell blushes
and smiles, then resumes his duties.
Lita picks up the glass.
She brings it close to her lips.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Someone yells.
Lita sets the glass down and turns towards the windows. Outside
there is an enormous cube shaped ship towering over the relatively small
Sisko.
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
"Aw shit." Lita complains, hopping out of her seat and running
off, her Mountain Dew untouched.
In Raye's quarters:
Jeff lights a candle. He places it in the center of the floor. He
then sits on one side of it Indian style.
After a few moments Raye walks in. She looks different, Jeff
notices.
Raye was brushing her long flowing hair. She is letting it go
loose like she used to do. Her uniform is in perfect condition. All her
pips accounted for and lined up straight. Her communicator perfectly
aligned where it should be.
Raye sets the brush down on her nightstand. She walks over and
takes a seat on the other side of the candle, across from Jeff. Jeff
smiles at her.
"I like your hair much better that way." He notes.
Raye smiles. "Thanks! I do too."
"Why were you wearing it the other way then?"
Raye frowns. "Just didn't feel like going through the trouble."
Jeff nods. "Okay. Silence is necessary."
"Yeah, yeah." Raye mumbles. "Computer, deactivate all audio in the
room."
The computer chirps.
"Okay. Breathe deep. One. Two. Three." Jeff instructed, as both he
and Raye went into a deep meditative trance.
Suddenly the alert light in Raye's quarters started to flash, but
no sound was heard.
In Sickbay:
Akane was walking around, checking to make sure that everything
was in order. She had nurses and assistants to do all that but sometimes
she was just so damned bored she had to do it.
Once she was done with her rounds she went into her office and sat
down. She tapped some buttons on her computer, then shut it off.
"Activate E.M.H." She ordered.
The holographic doctor appeared. "Please state the nature of the
medical emergency."
"Do you have to say that every time you appear?" Akane asked.
"Oh, I don't know. I guess it would be useful if you ever actually
activated me in an emergency." It smugly replied.
Akane just glared at it. Akane had to be the only one who could
put the fear of God in a holograph.
"I need to know how to deliver a baby." Akane said.
"Is someone pregnant?" The holograph asked. "The medical files
don't say anything about that."
"Commander Mina Aino might be." Akane replied.
"Her last physical was this morning at 0522. She was also given a
pregnancy test and it came up negative."
"What?" Akane asked, and punched up Mina's file confirming what
the E.M.H. just informed her.
"As CMO you should pay a bit more attention to what is going on in
Sickbay." The holograph stated.
"End program." Akane growled. The E.M.H. vanished.
Akane sighed and kicked her feet up and onto her desk. She pulled
a pack of smokes and a lighter from out of her pocket. She also grabs
her ashtray from out of her desk. She lights up and leans back.
Akane takes a deep drag on the cigarette.
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
The sudden blaring of Ranma's voice over the P.A. startled her.
She started to fall backwards. She flailed her arms in a pathetic
attempt to regain her balance.
She failed.
Akane went crashing to the ground.
"Son of a bitch." She cursed while still lying on the deck.
* * * *
The Sisko was sitting about 30,000 meters from the Kuno cube. The
Sisko looked absolutely miniscule in comparison. This Kuno cube was over
thirty times bigger than the first one they had come in contact with.
Side by side it looked like Verne Troyer (Mini-Me) standing next
to Louie Anderson. It didn't seem like a fair fight at all.
If Ranma was worried though, you couldn't tell. He simply looked
at the cube that completely filled the view screen.
Shampoo on the other hand was awe struck.
"It so big!" She commented.
Ranma nodded. "Tactical analyses."
Shampoo checked her display. "They have the usual Kuno weapons.
Torpedoes, phasers, cutting beam. Nothing special."
Nothing special. That thought bounced around in Ranma's head.
Could the Kuno's just have been bluffing to see if Ranma would actually
turn himself over to them?
"They're hailing us." The tactical officer announced.
The turbo lift doors opened and Serena and Lita walked onto the
bridge. The tactical officer acknowledged Lita and turned the station
over to her. Serena took a spot next to Lita.
"On screen." Ranma ordered.
Lita complied and George Kuno appeared.
"Hi-diddly-hi!" George grinned.
Ranma snickered. "I'm Captain Ranma-"
George wouldn't let him finish. "I know who you are Captain.
Please lower your shields and prepare to be boarded."
It's about this time that Ryouga and Mina entered the bridge. Mina
scurried down to her station but Ryouga walked a bit slower. He also
made a point to keep his hands in front of him.
In front of you know what.
Ranma laughed at George's arrogance.
"I'll do no such thing!"
George sighed. "Look, man. I don't have anything against you
personally. The first time we tangled I wanted to blow you out of the
sky just because father wanted to."
Ranma put his finger up to stop George.
George sighed. "Yes, I know I'm black. I'm adopted, okay?"
Ranma put his finger down. George continued.
"Here is the deal. I can't sleep because of you. That nut ball
brother of mine has dreams of killing you and he constantly has to
scream in them. Then he has dreams of deflowering your other half."
Ranma put his finger up again. Again George sighed.
"Yes, I know that you and the pig-tailed girl are one in the same.
As I stated before, I'm adopted."
Ranma puts his finger down again.
"Then there is Kodachi! I'm not even going to tell you the
horrible things she dreams about!"
Ranma nods. "I doubt I'd want to hear about them anyway."
George nods back. "At any rate, for this to come to an end you
must lower your shields and allow us to board. You, along with Akane
Tendo and Shampoo will be taken prisoner. The rest of your crew will go
on to live long and happy lives, free to pursue both economical and
spiritual enlightenment."
Shampoo stands. "WHY SHAMPOO?!"
George grins. "Cause I think your hot. I got myself some of that
Amazon Jungle Fever. And shouldn't I think about myself every now and
then?"
Shampoo just looks at Ranma. "He crazy!" She notes.
Ranma nods. "Sorry. You want to come over you are going to have to
do it the hard way."
George nods. "Okay then. See you in a few."
The communication ends. Ranma sighs as Lita's terminal starts to
chirp.
"They're powering up their forward torpedo bays." She informs
Ranma.
"Fire at will." Ranma dryly replies, sitting in his seat.
Lita nods.
The Sisko unleashes a tremendous amount of both normal and quantum
torpedoes, along with every forward phaser bank. The torpedoes impact
the cube with an incredible explosion. Once the smoke had cleared
everyone was surprised to see the cube not only in one piece, but
seemingly unscathed.
"What?" Ranma asked no one.
Lita prepared to fire again when several silver streaks of light
come flying out of the cube and impact the Sisko's shields.
The ship shakes violently. Panels explode. Pointless steam ducts
spray people with steam.
"SHIELDS DOWN TO 60 PERCENT!" Lita yelled.
"RETURN FIRE! FULL SPREAD OF QUANTUM TORPEDOES!" Ranma yelled
back.
Lita complied. Quantum torpedoes came from every torpedo bay on
the Sisko. They impacted the cube, one after the other. Immediately
following the impact multiple standard torpedoes fired and impacted the
cube.
"They are taking damage." Lita responded.
Shampoo checked her display. "Target weapons, engines." Shampoo
ordered.
Lita complied and fired again.
The cube also fired its weapon again. The torpedoes passed each
other on the way to their respective targets.
The Sisko got slammed once again knocking people in every which
direction.
The cube also took a tremendous amount of damage from the quantum
torpedo regular torpedo volleys.
"Shields at 10 percent!" Lita said. "The cube's engines are
offline, but her weapons-" Lita didn't need to finish. Six more of the
silver torpedoes streaked towards the Sisko, slamming into her.
"SHIELDS DOWN! HULL BREACH DECK 3, SECTION 16. EMERGENCY FORCE
FIELD IN PLACE!" Lita stated, as she returned fire.
The next volley of torpedoes from the Sisko all struck in the same
place. Right where the silver torpedoes were coming from. A massive
explosion came from that section blowing debris out into space.
There was an erie silence for a few moments while everyone
regained their bearings. Lita was the first to speak.
"Their weapons are offline." She reported.
"Get our shields up." Ranma ordered.
"Working on it, sir." Serena replied from the engineering station
on the aft section of the bridge.
"Too late." Lita said. "We've been boarded."
"How many?" Shampoo asked.
"50." Lita replied.
Ranma looked at Shampoo who returned the look. Ranma turned back
to Lita. "Where at?"
Lita checked her display. "Deck three, section five."
Ranma's stomach dropped. "Sickbay."
Ranma stood and turned to Shampoo. "You have the bridge." He
stated as he walked to the turbo lift. Shampoo turned to Mina.
"You have bridge." She stated walking over to Ranma. Lita eyed the
pair.
"I have a security team en route."
Ranma shook his head. "Sickbay."
Lita understood. "I'm coming with you then."
Ranma nodded. Ryouga stood, once again shielding his groin from
view.
"Ranma."
Ranma turned. "Don't worry. I need you here in case we need to get
lost." Ranma laughed at his own joke.
Ryouga scowled for a bit before he got the play on words. Once he
was sure Ranma was gone he laughed as well.
"What an ass." Ryouga giggled.
The trio exited the turbo lift on deck three. Yelling and phaser
fire could be heard down the hallways. Lita walked up to a wall panel.
She ran her hand along the back of the crease until she found a button.
She hit it and a section of the wall opened up revealing four phaser
rifles.
Lita tossed one to Ranma, one to Shampoo and kept the other two
for herself.
The trio quietly made their way down the hall. They stopped when
they saw what appeared to be Tatewaki Kuno lying dead on the floor.
Ranma checked it for a pulse.
Nothing.
"Captain." Lita called. Ranma ran over to where she was. There was
another Tatewaki on the ground. This one also had no pulse.
They looked up the hall. The floor was strewn with Tatewakis.
Ranma was befuddled. He didn't think that Kuno was narcissistic enough
to make an entire army in his image.
"They robots!" Shampoo noted as she pointed to one of the Kunos
busted open head. There was wires and chips sticking out of, as well as
a blue ooze dripping from the wound.
The trio continued on. Every now and then they would find a
security officer lying on the ground. Lita would stop and check for a
pulse. They all had one. The Kunos were apparently just stunning the
resistance.
The group advanced towards Sickbay.
"LET GO OF ME!" Akane's voice screamed from inside the sickbay
doors.
Ranma opened the doors and saw a Kuno drone dragging Akane by her
wrist. He noticed Ranma.
"I SHALL SMITE THE!" The drone yelled in a Kuno/Robot voice.
The drone let go of Akane and charged at Ranma. Ranma fired his
phaser. The blast hit the drone sending his internal parts flying out of
the back of him.
Several other drones walked over and started their attack on the
trio. As Ranma and the other fought another drone grabbed Akane and
flung her over his shoulder.
The drone carried Akane out the second set of sickbay doors. As
soon as Ranma and the others finished off the drones they pursued the
drone that had Akane.
"RANMA!" Akane yelled.
"I'M COMING, AKANE!" Ranma called back.
Suddenly another dozen drones materialized in front of them. A
couple of them went to help the one drone with Akane, the others stayed
to stall Ranma and group.
"Engineering to Saotome!" Serena's voice called.
Ranma ignored her but Lita answered. "What is it, Serena?"
"Uh-Lita?"
"Yes, what is it, Serena?"
"I have shields back in place. No more will be beaming over, and
they can't beam back out unless they use a transporter room." Serena
explained over the comm. system.
"Acknowledged." Lita slapped her badge and fired at one of the
drones.
Ranma was more interested in avoiding the drones and catching up
with Akane then he was with shooting them. The only ones he shot were
ones that were directly in his path with no way around them.
"RANMA!" Akane screamed helplessly as the Kuno drones carried her
off and down the Sisko's corridors.
Ranma ran after them, followed by Shampoo and Lita. Lita drew her
phaser rifle to bear and fired once, striking one of the drones. The
drone collapsed in a shower of sparks. The drone carrying Akane kept
walking. Three of the other drones turned and faced the trio.
Lita fired again striking the next drone. He also went down in a
heap, sparks flying from his torso.
Shampoo fired this time; however her phaser blast hit the drone
and dissipated.
"They've adapted!" Lita yelled, starting to back away.
"We can't let them take Akane!" Ranma yelled back, continuing
forward.
Lita nodded and ran up to one of the drones, and smashed her rifle
over its head. The rifle broke into a thousand pieces, but the crude
attack was effective. The drone fell over, a gooey blue ooze coming from
its wounds. Lita looked at the ooze and gagged.
Another drone charged at Ranma. He quickly jumped over it and
continued after the drone carrying Akane.
Shampoo smiled at the drone as she did some very impressive Amazon
ninja like attacks, sending the drone into oblivion, blue ooze coming
from gashes on its body.
"Nice." Lita commented, running after her captain.
Shampoo smiled and ran after Lita. "Shampoo got blue ooze on her
boot!" She complained.
"RANMA!" Akane cried while pounding and kicking the drone.
Ranma jumped over and dodged the Kuno drones that had already been
bested. He couldn't stop. He had to get to Akane before the drone
reached the transporter room.
Lita and Shampoo finally caught up with Ranma. The three of them
ran around a corner to find themselves face to face with about thirty of
the Kuno look a likes. Ranma could do nothing as he watched the
screaming Akane be carried off into transporter room six. He could do
nothing as he heard the transporters energize.
Anger swelled in Ranma's face. Shampoo and Lita stared at him as
he began to glow bright red.
"What the?" Lita pondered. She was soon grabbed by Shampoo who
pulled her into a doorway.
Ranma started to laugh in his anger. The Kuno drones moved ever so
close to him. They all in unison drew their bokkens.
"Fucking Kuno's." Ranma laughed.
The Kuno's raised their bokkens and prepared to land their blows
on their sworn enemy.
Ranma crouched and placed his arms straight in front of him, his
palms out facing his enemy. "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" Ranma screamed. The ki
blast was unbelievable. The glowing sphere that blasted from Ranma's
hands cut through all the Kunos, through the door to the transporter
room, and through the wall behind that, creating a passageway into cargo
bay five.
Ranma dropped to his knees exhausted. His breathing was somewhat
shallow, but it wasn't due to the energy drain of his ki blast.
Ranma raised his arm up enough to discreetly wipe the moisture
that was forming in his eyes. He stood and turned to where Shampoo was.
Lita was still hiding in the doorway. Ranma regained his composure and
started to speak to his first officer.
"I'm going over there." Ranma stated quite matter of factly.
"Not alone you not." Shampoo replied in the same tone.
"Shampoo -" Ranma started. Shampoo shook her head. Ranma stopped
speaking.
"Shampoo know how it feel to lose someone you love. Shampoo no
want Ranma to have to go through what Shampoo go through."
Shampoo thought for a second.
"Shampoo want to protect Ranma from the pain."
Ranma managed a weak grin. "Thank you."
Ranma remembered his feeble lie to her about wanting to protect
her from the pain she would feel in known that he and Akane were
married. Ranma knew, however, that Shampoo was not lying to him. She
cared about him. She cared enough to let go. She cared enough to help
him get back his true love.
It was about this time that Lita wandered out of her hiding place.
She examined the left-overs of the Kuno drones. She then stared in awe
at the remains of the wall behind them. She then noticed that she could
see all the way into cargo bay five.
"Jesus Christ!" She exclaimed.
"Ready?" Ranma asked Shampoo.
"Huh?" Lita asked.
"We're going to the Kuno ship to get Akane back." Ranma said,
starting to walk away.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Lita protested. Ranma stopped and turned back to
her. "You two are not going over there without me."
"This isn't your fight." Ranma stated.
Lita pointed to the wall. "Look what they did to my ship!" Lita
corrected herself. "I mean your ship."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "I actually did that."
Lita nodded. "Yes, but you wouldn't have if it wasn't for them.
Besides, if you get killed guess who gets their ass chewed out? Me,
that's who." Lita starts to flail her arms in over dramatizing her
point.
"I'm chief of security. Your security is my business. Guess what
that means, Captain! I go where you go. Oh yes, I'm going, that's
final."
Ranma laughed. "Fine."
Lita nodded at her victory. She wasn't going to let the Kuno's get
away with coming in here, shooting her security personal and making her
not be able to drink her Mountain Dew.
I guess Gosnell was right! That stuff is addictive! She thought.
Lita shook off her thought. She realized she could not let them
get away with this. No, they were going to pay and pay big.
"Aino to Saotome!" Mina's voice called over the comm.
"Yes Commander?" Ranma answered.
On the bridge:
"Captain, the Kuno ship is starting to move away. It appears that
they have their engines working again." Mina replied from the captain's
seat.
"Immobilize them. DO NOT destroy them, but stop them." Ranma
ordered. "I, Commander Shampoo and Commander Gosnell are going over
there."
Mina laughed. She would never be used to hearing the phrase
'Commander Gosnell'.
Why did she have to marry someone with such a funny name? She
thought.
"Did you get that, Commander?" Ranma asked.
Mina shook off her giggles. "Yes sir. I'll take care of it." She
replied.
Mina stood and turned to helm.
"Ryouga, set course 1-0-2 mark 0-0-7, engage at full impulse on my
mark."
"Aye." Ryouga mumbled, adjusting himself slightly to hide the
woody he still had.
"Tactical. Prepare one full volley of photon torpedoes from all
dorsal tubes. Target their engines. Fire on my mark."
"Aye!" The tactical officer stated.
Mina let the Kuno ship drift away a bit further before-
"HELM!" She yelled.
Ryouga complied and the ship shot forward towards the ship,
catching up with it very quickly. It appeared that they might collide
with the Kuno cube but the seven degree downward pitch of the Sisko was
taking them lower then the cube.
"FIRE!" Mina screamed.
Torpedoes a plenty burst from the ships three dorsal launchers.
They all impacted the Kuno's engine array located along the bottom of
the cube. The Kuno ship drifted to a stop.
"Ryouga, bring us about. Tactical, if they try and move again,
fire another volley of torpedoes at their engines. Be careful not to
destroy them. We have officers over there."
The tactical officer acknowledged Mina's command. Ryouga hit some
commands into his station and the ship very quickly, and very roughly,
pulled a 180. Any crew member that was standing was sent to the deck.
Mina happened to be standing.
"Damn it Hibiki!" She snarled.
* * * *
In the armory Ranma was passing out phaser rifles to his two
female assistants. All three of them had taken off their uniform
jackets. Now they were simply clad in the grey sleeveless shirts, black
uniform pants and their boots. They had reapplied their communicators to
their undershirts.
Lita did some work on a tricorder for a moment. She then connected
it to her phaser rifle. It chirped a few times and she nodded. Lita went
over to Ranma and Shampoo's rifles and did the same thing.
"The blast yield and frequency should modulate randomly enough so
the Kunos won't be able to adapt as quickly." Lita explained.
"As quickly?" Shampoo worriedly asked.
Lita nodded. "Their technology is very advanced. It won't take
very long for them to figure out the mathematics behind the frequency
change.
"I did, however, program each rifle differently, so it should take
longer for all three to become useless." Lita finished, slinging her
rifle over she shoulder.
"Good job, Commander." Ranma nodded. "Now, let's go."
The two girls nodded and followed their commanding officer out of
the armory. They walked down the hall and past the trashed corridor
leading to transporter room one. Ranma's blast had demolished the
control computer so they would have to walk down to transporter room
two, just a section away.
Ranma thought to himself along the way. He thought that he was
stupid for allowing Akane to be put in the position that she was in.
Ranma worried what kind of positions Kuno would try and put Akane
into. Ranma shuddered at that thought.
He also shuddered at the thought of Kuno turning Akane into one of
them. Into placing her into the Kuno collective. Ranma didn't know if he
could remain married to her if she was going to be spouting off bad
Shakespeare.
Ranma kicked himself slightly for thinking of such a silly thing
at such a serious time. He knew that it was a possibility that he would
never see Akane again if the Kunos were to escape.
He also knew that there was a possibility that they would be able
to use their new weapon on Earth and that was also unacceptable.
The trio arrived at transporter room two. The transporter chief
acknowledged them as they entered.
"Off to kick some ass?" He mused.
Ranma nodded. "What gave it away?"
"It's tradition in Starfleet that when you are off to kick some
ass you do it in just the sleeveless undershirts." He replied as he
punched in some commands into his console.
"Where do you think they took her?" Lita asked Ranma.
Ranma knew exactly where they took her. "Chief, put us a couple of
decks below the main control center of the ship."
"Yes sir." He replied. "Ready."
"Energize." Ranma ordered as the three disappeared off the pad.
* * * *
"I THOUGHT THEY DID NOT HAVE SPACE FLIGHT!" Trevor screamed as
machine gun fire pelted his Runabout.
"I said they don't have warp drive." The computer replied.
Trevor groaned. Foster looked to Trevor.
"I can stop them." He stated.
"No, thank you." Trevor snarled. "You've done quite enough for me
today."
Foster looked at his feet. "I was only trying to help."
"If you want to help, fix the warp drive!"
"I can't fix mechanical things." Foster replied quietly. "And if I
use my power to give us a boost we could end up in another galaxy."
Trevor just groaned. "How much longer till we breach the outer
atmosphere?"
The computer thought about this for a moment. "One minute."
"Can they follow us that far in those things?" Trevor said
grabbing his console as the ship shook as the bullets began to penetrate
the Runabout's shields.
"Yes, but the projectile weapons and missiles shouldn't be as
effective."
"How far out is the Crossroads?"
The computer thought for a few more moments. "77 thousand
kilometers."
Trevor groaned. He knew that if they followed him that far and saw
the Crossroads he would have blown the prime directive all to hell. He
knew that even though he would like to escape, he couldn't let that
happen.
"Trevor, I can stop them without killing them." Foster said.
Trevor thought about this for a bit. The last time that Foster
said that several people were killed. Granted they were trying to kill
him, but they thought he was a threat.
"Trevor, they are still low enough they can eject from their ships
and parachute down to the planet."
The computer agreed. "We're only at 8 kilometers."
"They should be wearing oxygen masks." Foster added.
"Okay, okay!" Trevor yelled. "But if you kill them I am going to
be SUPER pissed."
Foster nodded and vanished. Moments later Trevor watched the wings
on one, then the next, then the final aircraft fall off. The jets
started to plummet and sure enough, the canopies blew off and the pilots
ejected. They floated softly and quietly back down to the planet.
"There are eight more on an intercept course." The computer
informed Trevor.
"Right." Trevor replied, checking his displays. "Will we beat them
out of the atmosphere?"
"Yes." She answered.
"Okay, as soon as we are clear of the atmosphere set a course for
the farthest moon, full impulse."
The computer chirped a reply.
"Will we be safe there?" Foster asked as he reappeared in the seat
next to Trevor.
"Yes. The moon will shield us from their primitive radar. Plus we
can out run them at impulse so we will be able to find a good crater to
hide in before they even get there."
Foster smiled. He looked down at the display screen. He then
turned back to Trevor.
"I thought you said there was only one Federation ship in this
sector."
"Yeah." Trevor replied. "The Crossroads."
"That's Ami's ship." The computer helpfully added.
Trevor blushed.
"I see a second one. And then a third ship that's not Federation."
Foster stated, pointing the blips out to Trevor.
Trevor read the display and snarled. "Why didn't you tell me there
was another ship out there?"
"It wasn't there last time I checked." The computer replied.
"Dammit!" Trevor said. "I'm removing your AI chip when this is
over with. You're developing an attitude."
The computer made a noise that can only be described as a computer
blowing raspberries at him. Trevor just returned the sentiment as the
ship left the planets atmosphere and shot off towards the moon at full
impulse.
* * * *
The battle had startled both Raye and Jeff out of a deep
meditation. Raye honestly couldn't be happier. She was tired of these
sessions. Sure, they were helping her deal with the memories, but to
deal with them she had to remember them.
Jeff stood. He helped Raye to her feet.
"Lights." He called out.
The lights came on. Raye looked at him and nodded. "A jolt that
strong can't be Hibiki. I better get to the bridge."
Jeff nodded and they walked to the doors. They refused to open.
"What the hell?" Raye asked. She pushed some buttons on the panel
next to the door. They simply chirped in a non compliant sort of way.
"Computer, why won't the doors open?" Jeff asked.
"General quarters have been sounded." The computer replied.
"WHY?" Raye yelled.
"Intruder alert." The computer answered.
Raye slapped her comm. badge. "Hino to bridge."
"Go ahead Raye." Mina's voice replied.
"What's going on?"
"I'm a little to busy to explain it now." Mina stated. "But we've
been boarded."
"Do you need me up there?" Raye asked.
"No." Mina dryly replied. "The safest place for you is to stay in
your quarters. I'll call you back later. Aino out."
The comm. signal terminated. Raye sighed.
"I guess we're stuck here." Jeff mused. "What do you want to do?"
"I sure as hell don't want to do anymore meditating." Raye
grumbled. Jeff nodded and walked over to her bed. He sat down on it. He
patted the seat next to him. Raye raised an eyebrow.
"I don't think we should do that either." She stated.
Jeff laughed. "No, no."
Raye cautiously walked over and sat down on her bed next to him.
Jeff smiled and scooted over to the other end of the bed. He stuck his
hand in his pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards.
"You play poker?" he asked.
Raye cocked her head slightly. "A little."
Jeff nodded. He turned towards the replicator. "Two beers, 8
degrees, M.G.D. circa 2003." The replicator complied and two beers
appeared. Jeff hopped off the bed, walked over, grabbed the beers and
returned to his sitting position on Raye's bed. He handed Raye one of
the beers. "You want to deal?"
Raye took the cards from him. She looked at the backs of the
cards. On the back was the Starfleet Medical logo. She then turned the
cards over and on the front of each card was a different picture of a
Starfleet psychiatrist. Raye laughed when she saw the card with Jeff's
picture on it. He had a beatnik looking goatee.
"I was going through a phase." Jeff replied to Raye's unanswered
question.
Raye laughed again as she shuffled the cards and started to deal.
"The game is seven card stud. Nothing wild."
a refresher on what's going on, as I am sure you do, check out
http://funkdafieddouglasavenue.com/fic/moontrek/ng.html. All C & C welcome
at funkdafied[AT]douglasavenue.com. Happy holidays!
ewink
-----------------
CHAPTER FIVE - INVASION
Trevor pushed the bushes that were in his and Fosters way to the
ground and stepped over them. He then attempted to hold them down so
that Foster could also get over them, but they slipped out of his grip
and shot backwards, knocking Foster flat on his ass.
"Are you okay?" Trevor asked a laughing Foster.
"Yeah." Foster replied as he stood and dusted himself off. "I
think I hurt my bottom parts, but other than that, I'm gravy."
Trevor laughed. Foster eyed him confusedly.
"What's funny?" He asked.
Trevor chuckled some more.
"Nobody says 'bottom' anymore. Except for maybe three year olds."
Foster shrugged. "I'm seven hundred and three."
Trevor laughed once again. "Kid, you're alright!"
Foster smiled at the complement and the pair continued their trek
through the woods to the stranded Runabout.
After about fifteen minutes of hiking the pair could hear some
voices screaming at them.
"What did they say?" Foster asked Trevor who was increasing his
walking speed.
"They said 'stop or I'll shoot'."
Foster halted in his position. "Shouldn't we stop then?"
Trevor never turned back to his partner. "No! We'll be arrested
again!"
"Ah - good point." Foster acknowledged as he scurried off to catch
up with Trevor.
The pair continued walking at an accelerated pace. They had just
come over a small rise when a tree branch above them is shattered into
twigs.
"HOLY SHIT!" Trevor screamed. "I thought stop or we'll shoot was
just an expression!"
The pair began to run as they are blanketed with projectile fire -
the rounds missing them by mere inches.
"The Runabout is just beyond these trees!" Trevor pointed.
Foster screamed and dropped to the ground. Trevor stopped and
turned to his friend. "What happened?"
"I think I have been shot." Foster dryly replied as he staggered
to his feet.
"Are you going to be okay?"
Foster laughed. "Projectile weapons don't hurt energy beings."
A shot lands about two inches from Trevor. "Well they sure as
sugar hurt me, so we need to start running!"
Foster nodded and the pair began to run again. Within moments they
were at the Runabout with a Zima security officer right on their tails.
"STOP!" He ordered.
Trevor opened the hatch and the pair jump into the ship. Trevor
jumps into his seat and begins to power up the craft. The Zima guard
opened fire and bullets began to zing off the hull of the craft.
"Won't those hurt the hull?" Foster asked.
"The ship is impacted by thousands of micro asteroids per minute
while in space." Ami-computer explained. "Those bullets will do very
minor damage if any."
Trevor grabbed a phaser rifle and headed back to the door. Foster
grabbed him.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"We can't let them see us take off. I need to do what needs to be
done to protect the prime directive."
Foster nods as Trevor hops outside and stuns the only visible
guard. He quickly hops back in and takes his seat at the controls.
The hatch closes and seals as the Runabout begins to lift into the
air. Once a few meters in the air, Trevor swings the nose of the ship
180 degrees to face a clearing. The runabout slowly starts to move
towards the clearing.
After passing over some small hills, the pair see what seems like
an entire battalion of guards, most armed with small arms, but a few
armed with shoulder mounted missile launchers.
"Now, those will do a bit more damage than the bullets." Ami-
Computer states.
"Thank you very much, Captain obvious." Trevor groans. "Shields?"
"Two percent." She replies.
"Ugh." Trevor replies.
"I can stop them." Foster pipes up.
Trevor, without even thinking about it, pushes the ship to its
maximum incline and thruster speed. "Do it."
Foster nods and disappears. As the ship climbs Trevor sees all he
guards drop to the ground, appearing to be in pain.
Trevor stares at this for a moment till Foster reappears.
"What did you do?" Trevor asked.
"As you said, I did what needed to be done."
"What does that mean?"
Foster could sense some anger in Trevor's voice. "I killed them."
Trevor could only stare at Foster as the runabout climbed towards
the cloud line; his staring only interrupted by the chirping of panels
and Ami-Computer's voice piping in.
"Trevor, three plasma powered fighter air craft with highly
explosive missiles are on an intercept course. They will be within
weapons range in three minutes."
Trevor just groaned and turned back to his piloting. "We need to
have a serious talk when we get out of this."
Foster sighed and took his seat in the back of the cabin.
* * * *
The Sisko dropped out of warp at the very edge of sector Zulu 771.
The smoothness of the stop implied that Ensign Ryouga Hibiki was off the
clock.
Indeed he was.
Ryouga was hanging around in ten-forward. He noted the stars
slowing from the streaking warp effect to simply standing seemingly
still.
"Hey." Mina's voice called to him.
Ryouga turned and saw her standing behind him.
"Hi." He stated. Ryouga turned back to his drink and resumed
looking out the window.
"Do you mind if I sit down?" Mina asked.
Ryouga laughed. "What's the difference? As you are so inclined to
mention as much as you can you are my commanding officer."
Mina sighed as she sat down. A waiter walked up to the table. Mina
just shooed him away.
"Ryouga," Mina started. "I just got back from sickbay."
Ryouga shifted his eyes from the star field to Mina.
"And?" He asked.
"Negative." Mina replied.
The sigh of relief from Ryouga could be heard back at Starfleet
command in San Francisco.
Ryouga smiled. "Permission to speak freely?"
Mina nodded.
"I was going to do what you asked. I had never gotten drunk
before, well not THAT drunk, and I know that you were very drunk too. I
should have been able to control myself better." Ryouga stated.
Mina took a moment to take all that in before starting with her
own speech.
"No, it's not your fault. I was also a willing participant in it.
And I need to apologize for the way I reacted the next morning." Mina
cleared her throat. "I hope that everything is okay."
Ryouga laughed. "It was a little swollen, but no worse for the
wear."
"Still works?" Mina asked.
Ryouga blushed. "I think so."
Mina grinned. Ryouga was oblivious.
Then he got it.
"WHAT?" He screamed.
Everyone in ten-forward turned and looked at the pair. Mina
smacked Ryouga on the top of the head.
"Come on." Mina ordered.
Ryouga blushed, grinned, and followed Mina out of the lounge.
Behind the bar Gosnell grinned. He hit is communicator.
"Gosnell to Gosnell."
Feedback spewed out of his communicator. He hit it again after
several of the bars patrons gave him the evil eye.
"Stupid thing. Not me Gosnell! The other one!" He hit his comm.
badge once again. "Gosnell to Commander Gosnell."
"WHAT!" Lita yelled. "Some of us are trying to sleep here!"
"Sorry sweetie, just thought that you would want to know that
Mina's getting some."
"WHAT?!?!?!" She exclaimed. The signal went dead and within just a
few seconds Lita materialized in front of the bar. Gosnell's jaw dropped
when he saw his half naked wife appear. He quickly grabbed a spare
Starfleet uniform jacket from behind the bar and made her put it on.
"What's this about Mina getting some?" Lita demanded the
information.
"She left with Ryouga." Gosnell grinned.
Lita shook her head. "That doesn't mean anything."
Gosnell grinned. "He had the look."
"What look?"
Gosnell sighed. "Are we having sex tonight?"
"Probably." Lita replied quietly.
Gosnell got a big dopey grin on his face. Lita's eyes opened wide.
Gosnell started to laugh.
"That look." He giggled.
Lita grinned. She then took a seat at the bar. "Give me a Mountain
Dew." She said.
Gosnell shook his head negatively. "Not till you go put some pants
on."
Lita suddenly realized that under the Starfleet jacket she was
only wearing her underwear. Lita hit her comm. badge. "Execute site to
site transport pattern Lita 7 G."
The computer chirped an acknowledgement and she vanished into
nothingness.
* * * *
"The Sisko has entered the sector." George stated to his siblings.
Tatewaki Kuno grinned. He walked over to the control panel. "Time
to smite!" he grinned.
"Brother dear." Kodachi grumbled. "You aren't thinking of hurting
my darling Ranma."
"Oh for fucks sake." George grumbled as he entered in the
intercept coordinates into the computer. Tatewaki drew his bokken and
took up a fighting stance across the way from his sister.
"My goal is to rescue the fair Akane Tendo and my beloved pig-
tailed girl. If Saotome is to be destroyed it will be just a nice
coincidence." Kuno stated.
Kodachi glowered. "That wretched Akane Tendo will NOT be brought
aboard this ship as long as I am here."
"I can fix that!" Kuno bellowed.
"ON GUARD, BROTHER DEAR!" Kodachi retorted.
"Shaddup both of you!" George yelled, besting them both with two
phaser blasts. The two siblings fell to the ground, stunned but
unharmed.
Tatewaki staggers to his feet and draws his bokken on George. "How
dare you fire upon the blue-" Kuno is cut off as George raises the
phaser to bear on him.
"You want some more?" George asks.
Tatewaki re-holsters his bokken. "The mission at hand is of utmost
importance. I yield for now, but we will finish this later."
Kodachi also staggers to her feet. "I DO NOT YIELD!" She screams
as she charges the two Kuno boys with her rhythmic gymnastic ribbon
twirling. George fires one shot, knocking her back on her ass.
Tatewaki grins slightly. Kodachi returns to her feet.
"Yes, the mission at hand is what we need to concentrate on. We'll
settle this later." Kodachi cackles and flutters out of the room, rose
pedals flying in every which direction.
George merely shakes his head.
"Are these drones of yours going to work?" He asks Tatewaki.
"Do you doubt the workmanship of the house of Kuno?"
George eyes his brother for a moment, then speaks.
"No. Just curious."
Kuno nods. "Yes, they have been programmed to capture Akane Tendo
and the pig tailed girl. They have also been programmed to kill Ranma
Saotome."
George nods. "Good. Five minutes to intercept."
Kuno looks at the panel. "What about that ship?"
George shrugs. "The neuron-radiation jammer will keep the Sisko
from contacting them. After we are done with Ranma we can blow them up
later."
Kuno cackles. George just groans.
* * * *
Shampoo was playing a computer game on Ranma's command panel when
Ranma walked onto the bridge. Shampoo quickly turned it off and moved to
her own seat. Ranma just chuckled.
"You don't have to stop on my account." He said.
Shampoo just shrugged. "Shampoo losing anyway."
Ranma nodded and took his seat. He looked at the view screen. The
stars seemed to just be sitting there.
Ranma stared a bit closer.
Those stars are doing something odd. He thought.
The stars in the center of the view screen seemed to move position
ever so slightly, and then back to where they were. Ranma had seen that
before.
"Holy shit." He said.
Before he could say anything else the Kuno cube de-cloaked and
stopped right in front of the Sisko.
Shampoo hopped out of her seat. Ranma stood as well.
"SHIELDS!" They cried in unison.
The humming of the shields kicked in.
"RED ALERT!" Ranma yelled. "ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
In Mina's quarters:
Mina was straddling Ryouga. They were both under the covers. Mina
was passionately kissing Ryouga. He was more than grateful to return the
kisses, albeit very sloppily. Ryouga didn't do this type of thing too
often. He wasn't very good at it.
Mina moved her attention down from Ryouga's face to his neck.
Ryouga stroked Mina's back, his hands moving up and down from the top of
her back to the bottom of her buttocks, as she nibbled on his neck.
Mina started to move lower. She ran her tongue on Ryouga's
muscular chest. She gave Ryouga's man nipples some attention as well.
Ryouga moaned in pleasure. Mina continued down. Her tongue making
a trail that led down Ryouga's midsection, past his waist, lower and
down to his-
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!" Ranma's voice
bellowed over the P.A., followed by the red alert klaxons.
Mina sat up.
"SON OF A BITCH!" They both screamed in unison.
In Serena's quarters:
Serena was up earlier than usual. She wasn't dressed yet though.
She was still wearing her cute little cotton bra and panty set that she
slept in. They were cute because they had little bunnies on them.
Serena sighed. She didn't want to go and sit in ten-forward until
breakfast time. Gosnell was very strict. He wouldn't serve Lucky Charms
till 0630. She didn't understand why not. She guessed it was just to
make sure that no one else but she got any.
Serena walked over to her recliner and sat down. She looked at a
book that was sitting on the coffee table next to the chair.
"Do I have time?" She pondered.
She nodded to herself that she did. She leaned back in her chair
and got a bit more comfortable. She pushed a button that causes the foot
rest to come out. She knew this would be easier with her feet up.
She closed her eyes and allowed her hand to wander up and down the
side of her leg.
Her hand stopped near her hips. She sighed in pleasure. She pulls
out a remote control from between the arm of the chair and the cushion.
She pointed it at a video screen on the wall and hit a button.
Cat Girl Nuku Nuku appeared on the viewer. She grinned.
"Now that's the stuff!" She exclaimed.
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
"DAMMIT!" She whimpered as she hopped out of her chair.
In ten-forward:
Lita walks back into the lounge. She sees the bar very busy and
her husband taking breakfast orders. She looks around for Raye or Serena
but sees neither of them.
Gosnell looks up and acknowledges her presence. Lita smiles and
walks up to the bar. She takes a seat near the middle. Gosnell walks up
to her.
"I'll get you your Dew in just a minute, babe." He states as he
runs over to take some more orders.
Lita smiles. She's been looking forward to this since she got up
this morning. Well, this and the eventual drilling she was going to give
Mina about the drilling Ryouga gave her.
Yeah, this is going to be a great day! She thought.
Gosnell walked back up to her with a big glass of the green bubbly
liquid that she has grown to love - no - need.
"Thanks babe!" She says, giving him a quick peck. Gosnell blushes
and smiles, then resumes his duties.
Lita picks up the glass.
She brings it close to her lips.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Someone yells.
Lita sets the glass down and turns towards the windows. Outside
there is an enormous cube shaped ship towering over the relatively small
Sisko.
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
"Aw shit." Lita complains, hopping out of her seat and running
off, her Mountain Dew untouched.
In Raye's quarters:
Jeff lights a candle. He places it in the center of the floor. He
then sits on one side of it Indian style.
After a few moments Raye walks in. She looks different, Jeff
notices.
Raye was brushing her long flowing hair. She is letting it go
loose like she used to do. Her uniform is in perfect condition. All her
pips accounted for and lined up straight. Her communicator perfectly
aligned where it should be.
Raye sets the brush down on her nightstand. She walks over and
takes a seat on the other side of the candle, across from Jeff. Jeff
smiles at her.
"I like your hair much better that way." He notes.
Raye smiles. "Thanks! I do too."
"Why were you wearing it the other way then?"
Raye frowns. "Just didn't feel like going through the trouble."
Jeff nods. "Okay. Silence is necessary."
"Yeah, yeah." Raye mumbles. "Computer, deactivate all audio in the
room."
The computer chirps.
"Okay. Breathe deep. One. Two. Three." Jeff instructed, as both he
and Raye went into a deep meditative trance.
Suddenly the alert light in Raye's quarters started to flash, but
no sound was heard.
In Sickbay:
Akane was walking around, checking to make sure that everything
was in order. She had nurses and assistants to do all that but sometimes
she was just so damned bored she had to do it.
Once she was done with her rounds she went into her office and sat
down. She tapped some buttons on her computer, then shut it off.
"Activate E.M.H." She ordered.
The holographic doctor appeared. "Please state the nature of the
medical emergency."
"Do you have to say that every time you appear?" Akane asked.
"Oh, I don't know. I guess it would be useful if you ever actually
activated me in an emergency." It smugly replied.
Akane just glared at it. Akane had to be the only one who could
put the fear of God in a holograph.
"I need to know how to deliver a baby." Akane said.
"Is someone pregnant?" The holograph asked. "The medical files
don't say anything about that."
"Commander Mina Aino might be." Akane replied.
"Her last physical was this morning at 0522. She was also given a
pregnancy test and it came up negative."
"What?" Akane asked, and punched up Mina's file confirming what
the E.M.H. just informed her.
"As CMO you should pay a bit more attention to what is going on in
Sickbay." The holograph stated.
"End program." Akane growled. The E.M.H. vanished.
Akane sighed and kicked her feet up and onto her desk. She pulled
a pack of smokes and a lighter from out of her pocket. She also grabs
her ashtray from out of her desk. She lights up and leans back.
Akane takes a deep drag on the cigarette.
"RED ALERT! ALL SENIOR OFFICERS TO THE BRIDGE!"
The sudden blaring of Ranma's voice over the P.A. startled her.
She started to fall backwards. She flailed her arms in a pathetic
attempt to regain her balance.
She failed.
Akane went crashing to the ground.
"Son of a bitch." She cursed while still lying on the deck.
* * * *
The Sisko was sitting about 30,000 meters from the Kuno cube. The
Sisko looked absolutely miniscule in comparison. This Kuno cube was over
thirty times bigger than the first one they had come in contact with.
Side by side it looked like Verne Troyer (Mini-Me) standing next
to Louie Anderson. It didn't seem like a fair fight at all.
If Ranma was worried though, you couldn't tell. He simply looked
at the cube that completely filled the view screen.
Shampoo on the other hand was awe struck.
"It so big!" She commented.
Ranma nodded. "Tactical analyses."
Shampoo checked her display. "They have the usual Kuno weapons.
Torpedoes, phasers, cutting beam. Nothing special."
Nothing special. That thought bounced around in Ranma's head.
Could the Kuno's just have been bluffing to see if Ranma would actually
turn himself over to them?
"They're hailing us." The tactical officer announced.
The turbo lift doors opened and Serena and Lita walked onto the
bridge. The tactical officer acknowledged Lita and turned the station
over to her. Serena took a spot next to Lita.
"On screen." Ranma ordered.
Lita complied and George Kuno appeared.
"Hi-diddly-hi!" George grinned.
Ranma snickered. "I'm Captain Ranma-"
George wouldn't let him finish. "I know who you are Captain.
Please lower your shields and prepare to be boarded."
It's about this time that Ryouga and Mina entered the bridge. Mina
scurried down to her station but Ryouga walked a bit slower. He also
made a point to keep his hands in front of him.
In front of you know what.
Ranma laughed at George's arrogance.
"I'll do no such thing!"
George sighed. "Look, man. I don't have anything against you
personally. The first time we tangled I wanted to blow you out of the
sky just because father wanted to."
Ranma put his finger up to stop George.
George sighed. "Yes, I know I'm black. I'm adopted, okay?"
Ranma put his finger down. George continued.
"Here is the deal. I can't sleep because of you. That nut ball
brother of mine has dreams of killing you and he constantly has to
scream in them. Then he has dreams of deflowering your other half."
Ranma put his finger up again. Again George sighed.
"Yes, I know that you and the pig-tailed girl are one in the same.
As I stated before, I'm adopted."
Ranma puts his finger down again.
"Then there is Kodachi! I'm not even going to tell you the
horrible things she dreams about!"
Ranma nods. "I doubt I'd want to hear about them anyway."
George nods back. "At any rate, for this to come to an end you
must lower your shields and allow us to board. You, along with Akane
Tendo and Shampoo will be taken prisoner. The rest of your crew will go
on to live long and happy lives, free to pursue both economical and
spiritual enlightenment."
Shampoo stands. "WHY SHAMPOO?!"
George grins. "Cause I think your hot. I got myself some of that
Amazon Jungle Fever. And shouldn't I think about myself every now and
then?"
Shampoo just looks at Ranma. "He crazy!" She notes.
Ranma nods. "Sorry. You want to come over you are going to have to
do it the hard way."
George nods. "Okay then. See you in a few."
The communication ends. Ranma sighs as Lita's terminal starts to
chirp.
"They're powering up their forward torpedo bays." She informs
Ranma.
"Fire at will." Ranma dryly replies, sitting in his seat.
Lita nods.
The Sisko unleashes a tremendous amount of both normal and quantum
torpedoes, along with every forward phaser bank. The torpedoes impact
the cube with an incredible explosion. Once the smoke had cleared
everyone was surprised to see the cube not only in one piece, but
seemingly unscathed.
"What?" Ranma asked no one.
Lita prepared to fire again when several silver streaks of light
come flying out of the cube and impact the Sisko's shields.
The ship shakes violently. Panels explode. Pointless steam ducts
spray people with steam.
"SHIELDS DOWN TO 60 PERCENT!" Lita yelled.
"RETURN FIRE! FULL SPREAD OF QUANTUM TORPEDOES!" Ranma yelled
back.
Lita complied. Quantum torpedoes came from every torpedo bay on
the Sisko. They impacted the cube, one after the other. Immediately
following the impact multiple standard torpedoes fired and impacted the
cube.
"They are taking damage." Lita responded.
Shampoo checked her display. "Target weapons, engines." Shampoo
ordered.
Lita complied and fired again.
The cube also fired its weapon again. The torpedoes passed each
other on the way to their respective targets.
The Sisko got slammed once again knocking people in every which
direction.
The cube also took a tremendous amount of damage from the quantum
torpedo regular torpedo volleys.
"Shields at 10 percent!" Lita said. "The cube's engines are
offline, but her weapons-" Lita didn't need to finish. Six more of the
silver torpedoes streaked towards the Sisko, slamming into her.
"SHIELDS DOWN! HULL BREACH DECK 3, SECTION 16. EMERGENCY FORCE
FIELD IN PLACE!" Lita stated, as she returned fire.
The next volley of torpedoes from the Sisko all struck in the same
place. Right where the silver torpedoes were coming from. A massive
explosion came from that section blowing debris out into space.
There was an erie silence for a few moments while everyone
regained their bearings. Lita was the first to speak.
"Their weapons are offline." She reported.
"Get our shields up." Ranma ordered.
"Working on it, sir." Serena replied from the engineering station
on the aft section of the bridge.
"Too late." Lita said. "We've been boarded."
"How many?" Shampoo asked.
"50." Lita replied.
Ranma looked at Shampoo who returned the look. Ranma turned back
to Lita. "Where at?"
Lita checked her display. "Deck three, section five."
Ranma's stomach dropped. "Sickbay."
Ranma stood and turned to Shampoo. "You have the bridge." He
stated as he walked to the turbo lift. Shampoo turned to Mina.
"You have bridge." She stated walking over to Ranma. Lita eyed the
pair.
"I have a security team en route."
Ranma shook his head. "Sickbay."
Lita understood. "I'm coming with you then."
Ranma nodded. Ryouga stood, once again shielding his groin from
view.
"Ranma."
Ranma turned. "Don't worry. I need you here in case we need to get
lost." Ranma laughed at his own joke.
Ryouga scowled for a bit before he got the play on words. Once he
was sure Ranma was gone he laughed as well.
"What an ass." Ryouga giggled.
The trio exited the turbo lift on deck three. Yelling and phaser
fire could be heard down the hallways. Lita walked up to a wall panel.
She ran her hand along the back of the crease until she found a button.
She hit it and a section of the wall opened up revealing four phaser
rifles.
Lita tossed one to Ranma, one to Shampoo and kept the other two
for herself.
The trio quietly made their way down the hall. They stopped when
they saw what appeared to be Tatewaki Kuno lying dead on the floor.
Ranma checked it for a pulse.
Nothing.
"Captain." Lita called. Ranma ran over to where she was. There was
another Tatewaki on the ground. This one also had no pulse.
They looked up the hall. The floor was strewn with Tatewakis.
Ranma was befuddled. He didn't think that Kuno was narcissistic enough
to make an entire army in his image.
"They robots!" Shampoo noted as she pointed to one of the Kunos
busted open head. There was wires and chips sticking out of, as well as
a blue ooze dripping from the wound.
The trio continued on. Every now and then they would find a
security officer lying on the ground. Lita would stop and check for a
pulse. They all had one. The Kunos were apparently just stunning the
resistance.
The group advanced towards Sickbay.
"LET GO OF ME!" Akane's voice screamed from inside the sickbay
doors.
Ranma opened the doors and saw a Kuno drone dragging Akane by her
wrist. He noticed Ranma.
"I SHALL SMITE THE!" The drone yelled in a Kuno/Robot voice.
The drone let go of Akane and charged at Ranma. Ranma fired his
phaser. The blast hit the drone sending his internal parts flying out of
the back of him.
Several other drones walked over and started their attack on the
trio. As Ranma and the other fought another drone grabbed Akane and
flung her over his shoulder.
The drone carried Akane out the second set of sickbay doors. As
soon as Ranma and the others finished off the drones they pursued the
drone that had Akane.
"RANMA!" Akane yelled.
"I'M COMING, AKANE!" Ranma called back.
Suddenly another dozen drones materialized in front of them. A
couple of them went to help the one drone with Akane, the others stayed
to stall Ranma and group.
"Engineering to Saotome!" Serena's voice called.
Ranma ignored her but Lita answered. "What is it, Serena?"
"Uh-Lita?"
"Yes, what is it, Serena?"
"I have shields back in place. No more will be beaming over, and
they can't beam back out unless they use a transporter room." Serena
explained over the comm. system.
"Acknowledged." Lita slapped her badge and fired at one of the
drones.
Ranma was more interested in avoiding the drones and catching up
with Akane then he was with shooting them. The only ones he shot were
ones that were directly in his path with no way around them.
"RANMA!" Akane screamed helplessly as the Kuno drones carried her
off and down the Sisko's corridors.
Ranma ran after them, followed by Shampoo and Lita. Lita drew her
phaser rifle to bear and fired once, striking one of the drones. The
drone collapsed in a shower of sparks. The drone carrying Akane kept
walking. Three of the other drones turned and faced the trio.
Lita fired again striking the next drone. He also went down in a
heap, sparks flying from his torso.
Shampoo fired this time; however her phaser blast hit the drone
and dissipated.
"They've adapted!" Lita yelled, starting to back away.
"We can't let them take Akane!" Ranma yelled back, continuing
forward.
Lita nodded and ran up to one of the drones, and smashed her rifle
over its head. The rifle broke into a thousand pieces, but the crude
attack was effective. The drone fell over, a gooey blue ooze coming from
its wounds. Lita looked at the ooze and gagged.
Another drone charged at Ranma. He quickly jumped over it and
continued after the drone carrying Akane.
Shampoo smiled at the drone as she did some very impressive Amazon
ninja like attacks, sending the drone into oblivion, blue ooze coming
from gashes on its body.
"Nice." Lita commented, running after her captain.
Shampoo smiled and ran after Lita. "Shampoo got blue ooze on her
boot!" She complained.
"RANMA!" Akane cried while pounding and kicking the drone.
Ranma jumped over and dodged the Kuno drones that had already been
bested. He couldn't stop. He had to get to Akane before the drone
reached the transporter room.
Lita and Shampoo finally caught up with Ranma. The three of them
ran around a corner to find themselves face to face with about thirty of
the Kuno look a likes. Ranma could do nothing as he watched the
screaming Akane be carried off into transporter room six. He could do
nothing as he heard the transporters energize.
Anger swelled in Ranma's face. Shampoo and Lita stared at him as
he began to glow bright red.
"What the?" Lita pondered. She was soon grabbed by Shampoo who
pulled her into a doorway.
Ranma started to laugh in his anger. The Kuno drones moved ever so
close to him. They all in unison drew their bokkens.
"Fucking Kuno's." Ranma laughed.
The Kuno's raised their bokkens and prepared to land their blows
on their sworn enemy.
Ranma crouched and placed his arms straight in front of him, his
palms out facing his enemy. "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" Ranma screamed. The ki
blast was unbelievable. The glowing sphere that blasted from Ranma's
hands cut through all the Kunos, through the door to the transporter
room, and through the wall behind that, creating a passageway into cargo
bay five.
Ranma dropped to his knees exhausted. His breathing was somewhat
shallow, but it wasn't due to the energy drain of his ki blast.
Ranma raised his arm up enough to discreetly wipe the moisture
that was forming in his eyes. He stood and turned to where Shampoo was.
Lita was still hiding in the doorway. Ranma regained his composure and
started to speak to his first officer.
"I'm going over there." Ranma stated quite matter of factly.
"Not alone you not." Shampoo replied in the same tone.
"Shampoo -" Ranma started. Shampoo shook her head. Ranma stopped
speaking.
"Shampoo know how it feel to lose someone you love. Shampoo no
want Ranma to have to go through what Shampoo go through."
Shampoo thought for a second.
"Shampoo want to protect Ranma from the pain."
Ranma managed a weak grin. "Thank you."
Ranma remembered his feeble lie to her about wanting to protect
her from the pain she would feel in known that he and Akane were
married. Ranma knew, however, that Shampoo was not lying to him. She
cared about him. She cared enough to let go. She cared enough to help
him get back his true love.
It was about this time that Lita wandered out of her hiding place.
She examined the left-overs of the Kuno drones. She then stared in awe
at the remains of the wall behind them. She then noticed that she could
see all the way into cargo bay five.
"Jesus Christ!" She exclaimed.
"Ready?" Ranma asked Shampoo.
"Huh?" Lita asked.
"We're going to the Kuno ship to get Akane back." Ranma said,
starting to walk away.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Lita protested. Ranma stopped and turned back to
her. "You two are not going over there without me."
"This isn't your fight." Ranma stated.
Lita pointed to the wall. "Look what they did to my ship!" Lita
corrected herself. "I mean your ship."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "I actually did that."
Lita nodded. "Yes, but you wouldn't have if it wasn't for them.
Besides, if you get killed guess who gets their ass chewed out? Me,
that's who." Lita starts to flail her arms in over dramatizing her
point.
"I'm chief of security. Your security is my business. Guess what
that means, Captain! I go where you go. Oh yes, I'm going, that's
final."
Ranma laughed. "Fine."
Lita nodded at her victory. She wasn't going to let the Kuno's get
away with coming in here, shooting her security personal and making her
not be able to drink her Mountain Dew.
I guess Gosnell was right! That stuff is addictive! She thought.
Lita shook off her thought. She realized she could not let them
get away with this. No, they were going to pay and pay big.
"Aino to Saotome!" Mina's voice called over the comm.
"Yes Commander?" Ranma answered.
On the bridge:
"Captain, the Kuno ship is starting to move away. It appears that
they have their engines working again." Mina replied from the captain's
seat.
"Immobilize them. DO NOT destroy them, but stop them." Ranma
ordered. "I, Commander Shampoo and Commander Gosnell are going over
there."
Mina laughed. She would never be used to hearing the phrase
'Commander Gosnell'.
Why did she have to marry someone with such a funny name? She
thought.
"Did you get that, Commander?" Ranma asked.
Mina shook off her giggles. "Yes sir. I'll take care of it." She
replied.
Mina stood and turned to helm.
"Ryouga, set course 1-0-2 mark 0-0-7, engage at full impulse on my
mark."
"Aye." Ryouga mumbled, adjusting himself slightly to hide the
woody he still had.
"Tactical. Prepare one full volley of photon torpedoes from all
dorsal tubes. Target their engines. Fire on my mark."
"Aye!" The tactical officer stated.
Mina let the Kuno ship drift away a bit further before-
"HELM!" She yelled.
Ryouga complied and the ship shot forward towards the ship,
catching up with it very quickly. It appeared that they might collide
with the Kuno cube but the seven degree downward pitch of the Sisko was
taking them lower then the cube.
"FIRE!" Mina screamed.
Torpedoes a plenty burst from the ships three dorsal launchers.
They all impacted the Kuno's engine array located along the bottom of
the cube. The Kuno ship drifted to a stop.
"Ryouga, bring us about. Tactical, if they try and move again,
fire another volley of torpedoes at their engines. Be careful not to
destroy them. We have officers over there."
The tactical officer acknowledged Mina's command. Ryouga hit some
commands into his station and the ship very quickly, and very roughly,
pulled a 180. Any crew member that was standing was sent to the deck.
Mina happened to be standing.
"Damn it Hibiki!" She snarled.
* * * *
In the armory Ranma was passing out phaser rifles to his two
female assistants. All three of them had taken off their uniform
jackets. Now they were simply clad in the grey sleeveless shirts, black
uniform pants and their boots. They had reapplied their communicators to
their undershirts.
Lita did some work on a tricorder for a moment. She then connected
it to her phaser rifle. It chirped a few times and she nodded. Lita went
over to Ranma and Shampoo's rifles and did the same thing.
"The blast yield and frequency should modulate randomly enough so
the Kunos won't be able to adapt as quickly." Lita explained.
"As quickly?" Shampoo worriedly asked.
Lita nodded. "Their technology is very advanced. It won't take
very long for them to figure out the mathematics behind the frequency
change.
"I did, however, program each rifle differently, so it should take
longer for all three to become useless." Lita finished, slinging her
rifle over she shoulder.
"Good job, Commander." Ranma nodded. "Now, let's go."
The two girls nodded and followed their commanding officer out of
the armory. They walked down the hall and past the trashed corridor
leading to transporter room one. Ranma's blast had demolished the
control computer so they would have to walk down to transporter room
two, just a section away.
Ranma thought to himself along the way. He thought that he was
stupid for allowing Akane to be put in the position that she was in.
Ranma worried what kind of positions Kuno would try and put Akane
into. Ranma shuddered at that thought.
He also shuddered at the thought of Kuno turning Akane into one of
them. Into placing her into the Kuno collective. Ranma didn't know if he
could remain married to her if she was going to be spouting off bad
Shakespeare.
Ranma kicked himself slightly for thinking of such a silly thing
at such a serious time. He knew that it was a possibility that he would
never see Akane again if the Kunos were to escape.
He also knew that there was a possibility that they would be able
to use their new weapon on Earth and that was also unacceptable.
The trio arrived at transporter room two. The transporter chief
acknowledged them as they entered.
"Off to kick some ass?" He mused.
Ranma nodded. "What gave it away?"
"It's tradition in Starfleet that when you are off to kick some
ass you do it in just the sleeveless undershirts." He replied as he
punched in some commands into his console.
"Where do you think they took her?" Lita asked Ranma.
Ranma knew exactly where they took her. "Chief, put us a couple of
decks below the main control center of the ship."
"Yes sir." He replied. "Ready."
"Energize." Ranma ordered as the three disappeared off the pad.
* * * *
"I THOUGHT THEY DID NOT HAVE SPACE FLIGHT!" Trevor screamed as
machine gun fire pelted his Runabout.
"I said they don't have warp drive." The computer replied.
Trevor groaned. Foster looked to Trevor.
"I can stop them." He stated.
"No, thank you." Trevor snarled. "You've done quite enough for me
today."
Foster looked at his feet. "I was only trying to help."
"If you want to help, fix the warp drive!"
"I can't fix mechanical things." Foster replied quietly. "And if I
use my power to give us a boost we could end up in another galaxy."
Trevor just groaned. "How much longer till we breach the outer
atmosphere?"
The computer thought about this for a moment. "One minute."
"Can they follow us that far in those things?" Trevor said
grabbing his console as the ship shook as the bullets began to penetrate
the Runabout's shields.
"Yes, but the projectile weapons and missiles shouldn't be as
effective."
"How far out is the Crossroads?"
The computer thought for a few more moments. "77 thousand
kilometers."
Trevor groaned. He knew that if they followed him that far and saw
the Crossroads he would have blown the prime directive all to hell. He
knew that even though he would like to escape, he couldn't let that
happen.
"Trevor, I can stop them without killing them." Foster said.
Trevor thought about this for a bit. The last time that Foster
said that several people were killed. Granted they were trying to kill
him, but they thought he was a threat.
"Trevor, they are still low enough they can eject from their ships
and parachute down to the planet."
The computer agreed. "We're only at 8 kilometers."
"They should be wearing oxygen masks." Foster added.
"Okay, okay!" Trevor yelled. "But if you kill them I am going to
be SUPER pissed."
Foster nodded and vanished. Moments later Trevor watched the wings
on one, then the next, then the final aircraft fall off. The jets
started to plummet and sure enough, the canopies blew off and the pilots
ejected. They floated softly and quietly back down to the planet.
"There are eight more on an intercept course." The computer
informed Trevor.
"Right." Trevor replied, checking his displays. "Will we beat them
out of the atmosphere?"
"Yes." She answered.
"Okay, as soon as we are clear of the atmosphere set a course for
the farthest moon, full impulse."
The computer chirped a reply.
"Will we be safe there?" Foster asked as he reappeared in the seat
next to Trevor.
"Yes. The moon will shield us from their primitive radar. Plus we
can out run them at impulse so we will be able to find a good crater to
hide in before they even get there."
Foster smiled. He looked down at the display screen. He then
turned back to Trevor.
"I thought you said there was only one Federation ship in this
sector."
"Yeah." Trevor replied. "The Crossroads."
"That's Ami's ship." The computer helpfully added.
Trevor blushed.
"I see a second one. And then a third ship that's not Federation."
Foster stated, pointing the blips out to Trevor.
Trevor read the display and snarled. "Why didn't you tell me there
was another ship out there?"
"It wasn't there last time I checked." The computer replied.
"Dammit!" Trevor said. "I'm removing your AI chip when this is
over with. You're developing an attitude."
The computer made a noise that can only be described as a computer
blowing raspberries at him. Trevor just returned the sentiment as the
ship left the planets atmosphere and shot off towards the moon at full
impulse.
* * * *
The battle had startled both Raye and Jeff out of a deep
meditation. Raye honestly couldn't be happier. She was tired of these
sessions. Sure, they were helping her deal with the memories, but to
deal with them she had to remember them.
Jeff stood. He helped Raye to her feet.
"Lights." He called out.
The lights came on. Raye looked at him and nodded. "A jolt that
strong can't be Hibiki. I better get to the bridge."
Jeff nodded and they walked to the doors. They refused to open.
"What the hell?" Raye asked. She pushed some buttons on the panel
next to the door. They simply chirped in a non compliant sort of way.
"Computer, why won't the doors open?" Jeff asked.
"General quarters have been sounded." The computer replied.
"WHY?" Raye yelled.
"Intruder alert." The computer answered.
Raye slapped her comm. badge. "Hino to bridge."
"Go ahead Raye." Mina's voice replied.
"What's going on?"
"I'm a little to busy to explain it now." Mina stated. "But we've
been boarded."
"Do you need me up there?" Raye asked.
"No." Mina dryly replied. "The safest place for you is to stay in
your quarters. I'll call you back later. Aino out."
The comm. signal terminated. Raye sighed.
"I guess we're stuck here." Jeff mused. "What do you want to do?"
"I sure as hell don't want to do anymore meditating." Raye
grumbled. Jeff nodded and walked over to her bed. He sat down on it. He
patted the seat next to him. Raye raised an eyebrow.
"I don't think we should do that either." She stated.
Jeff laughed. "No, no."
Raye cautiously walked over and sat down on her bed next to him.
Jeff smiled and scooted over to the other end of the bed. He stuck his
hand in his pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards.
"You play poker?" he asked.
Raye cocked her head slightly. "A little."
Jeff nodded. He turned towards the replicator. "Two beers, 8
degrees, M.G.D. circa 2003." The replicator complied and two beers
appeared. Jeff hopped off the bed, walked over, grabbed the beers and
returned to his sitting position on Raye's bed. He handed Raye one of
the beers. "You want to deal?"
Raye took the cards from him. She looked at the backs of the
cards. On the back was the Starfleet Medical logo. She then turned the
cards over and on the front of each card was a different picture of a
Starfleet psychiatrist. Raye laughed when she saw the card with Jeff's
picture on it. He had a beatnik looking goatee.
"I was going through a phase." Jeff replied to Raye's unanswered
question.
Raye laughed again as she shuffled the cards and started to deal.
"The game is seven card stud. Nothing wild."